Railway-crossing.



Patented Aug. 6, l90l.

S. 6. BALL & J. J. GIBSON.

RAILWAY CROSSING.

(Application filed Doc. 21, 1900.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL 0. BALL AND JOHN J. GIBSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY-CROSSING.

s'PnofFIcATIoN forming part or Letters Patent No. 679,874, dated August 6, 1901. Application filed December 21 1900. Serial No. 40,631. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.

7 Be it known that we, SAMUEL "O. BALL and JOHN J. GIBSON, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway- Orossings, of which the following is a specifi'cation.

This invention relates to improvements in railway construction to be employed at the crossing of two or more railways; and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrangement, and operation of the various parts thereof, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

The objects of our invention are, first, to

provide railway-crossings which shall practically afford continuous rails on which the wheels of the train may travel, thus preventing the jolting incident to the passage of the wheels over the spaces between the adjacent ends of the intersecting rails, as is the case in crossings of the ordinary or general continuity of the tracks may be effected by hand or the well-known interlocking system, and,

third, to furnish a rotatable rail-section at the intersections of the main rails of the tracks which shall be so constructed that it will be self-lubricating, easily turned, and securely held in position against accidental displacement.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which our invention pertains to make and use the same, we will now proceed to describe it, referring-to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a railway-crossing embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the rotatable posts or shafts carrying a railsection. Fig. 4 is a bottom perspective view thereof. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the upper portion of a part of the bed-plate of the crossing; and Fig. 6 is a perspective View, partly in section, of a shoe secured to a portion of a locomotive.

.Similar letters refer to like parts throughout the difierent views of the drawings.

A represents the main rails of one of the on and may be secured to the cross-ties in any suitable manner and which in the present instance we have shown as being sufficiently large to extend under the four intersections of the crossing; but we do not desire to be limited to such a construction, as we may use a separate bed-plate with our improved bearing for the rotatable post and rail-section at each of the intersections of the rails without departing from thespirit of our invention. At proper points to be located between the adjacent ends of the main rails of the tracks the bed-plate D is formed or of the drawings. One of these posts E is located in each of the openings in the bed-plate between the adjacent ends of the main rails, and each of said posts is provided on its upper portion with a circular disk E, having on its lower surface an annular flange e to form a recess e for the reception and operation of the boss D of the bed-plate. On the upper surface of each of the disks E is diametrically located a rail-section E which extends upwardly, so as to be flush with the upper surface of the main rails. The circular disk E on each of the rotatable posts is formed with an oil-chamber e"*, the mouth of which may be closed by a suitable cover g, pivotally secured to the upper surface of said disk or circular portion. Extending from the lower portion of the chamber 6 is a channel or small opening e through which the oil or lubricant may escape. To prevent the oil or lubricant flowing too freely from the chamber, a quantity of packing or waste e may be placed therein to absorb and retain the 'oil. The lower portion of the post E is provided with a transverse opening e for the reception of a pin it, which is employed to hold the washer h in position. Between the washer h and the bottom of the bed-plate and surrounding IOO the post E is a spring 72, which serves to securely hold the rotatable post and rail-section in position, yet will yield sufficiently to' allow the same to be freely turned.

In the drawings we have shown the rotatable post E, disk- E, and rail-section E? as being made integral, and while we so prefer to construct said parts, yet we do not desire to be limited thereto, as we may construct them separately and secure them together in any suitable manner.

In Fig. 6 of the drawings We have shown a shoe H,which is pointed at its front end and is secured by means of bolts g, passing through an extension g on the upper surface of the shoe toa portion G of the pilot of a locomotive or other portion of a train or locomotive.

In Fig. l of the drawings the shoes H are shown by dotted lines as being located between the main rails B and guard-rails O anddescribed purpose, yet it is apparent that the flanges of the wheels when said shoes are not employed will strike the rail-sections and cause them to turn so as to be in alinelnent' It is also with the main rails of the track. evident that the rotatable posts carrying the rail-sections may be turned by other means than that carried by the locomotive or train by connecting them together.

Having thus fully described our invention,

what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is"

1. In a railway-crossing, the combination of the intersecting main track-rails, with a bed-plate located beneath said rails and supporting the same, and having on its upper surface a boss formed with a central opening, said boss being located between the adjacent ends of the main track-rails, a rotatable post located in the opening of the boss on the bedplate, a disk on the upper portion of the post and havingonits lower surface an annular recess to receive the boss, and a rail-section diametrically located on the upper surface of said disk, substantially as described.

of the intersecting main track-rails, with a bed-plate located beneath said rails and supporting the same, and having on its upper surface a boss formed with a central opening, said boss being located between the adjacent ends of the main track-rails, a post rotatably located in the opening of the boss on the bedplate, adisk on the upper portion of the post and having in its lower surface an annular recess to receive the boss, a rail-section diametrically located on the upper surface of said disk, and a spring surrounding the lower portion'of the post,substantially as described.

3. In a railway-crossing, the combination of the intersecting main track-rails, with a bed-plateloca'ted beneath said rails and supporting the same, and having on its upper surface a boss formed with a central opening, said boss being located between the adjacent ends of the main track-rails, a post rotatably located in the opening of the boss on the bedplate, a disk on the upper portion of the post and having in its lower surface an annular recess to receive the boss, a rail-section dia' metrically located on the upper surface of said disk, said post, disk, and rail-section being made of one piece, a washer secured on the lower end of the post, and a spring located around the post andbetween said washer and the bed-plate, substantially as described.

4. In a railway-crossing, the combination of the intersecting main track-rails, with a bed-plate located beneath said rails and supporting the same and having on its upper surface a boss formed with a central opening,

said boss beinglocated between the adjacent ends of the main track-rails, a post rotatably located in the opening of the boss on the bed- SAMUEL 0. BALL. JOHN J. GIBSON.

Witnesses:

CHAS. O. TILLMAN, A. GUSTAFSON.

2. In a railway-crossing, the combination 5 5' 

